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DEDICATION 



SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, 



AT CLAREMOKT, K. E. 



OCTOBER 19, 1869. 



PEOCEEDI]S"GS, SPEECHES, ETC, 



CLAEEMONT, N. H. : 

PEINTED BY THE CLAEEMONT MANUFACTURING CO; 
1869. 






West. E©a. HlB*- So'' 



>^y 



DEDICATORY PROCEEDINGS. 



In accordance with arrangements the ceremonies of dedicating a Soldiers' 
Monument in Claremont, took place on the 19th of October A. D. ISGU. 
During the War of the Rebellion of 1861-65, when our Claremont Soldiers 
were falling in the battles of Bull Run, Fair Oaks, Cold Harbor, Fredericks- 
burg, the Wilderness and othe: s, and dying in hospitals from disease induced 
by hardships and exposure, it was determined that some suitable monument 
should be erected in the town to commemorate the events of the war and per- 
petuate the memory and fame of those Claremont men who died while doing 
battle for their country. 

At the close of the war, in April, 1865, the Claremont Auxiliary Sanitary 
Commission found in their treasury about one hundred and sixty dollars, 
which by vote of the members was placed at interest as a Soldiers' Monument 
fund, to be used when a sum should be obtained, which with this, would 
pay for a suitable memorial to the fallen heroes of the town. About fifty 
dollars were left after paying the expenses of a Fourth of July celebration, 
in 1865, and this amount the committee of arrangements voted to appropriate 
to the same object. At the annual town meeting, in March, 1867, it was 
voted to appropriate one thousand dollars for a Soldiers' Monument, pro- 
vided that five hundred dollars should be raised by contribution or otherwise. 
Subscription papers, with a condition that no one should pay more than one 
dollar, were circulated by ladies in each school district, and about six Imndred 
dollars were obtained. Heads of families generally paid one dollar, and children 
of all ages twenty-five cents. Thus almost every individual at that time 
in town contributed something towards this memorial, and there was not far 
from eight hundred dollars obtained, besides the thousand dollars voted by the 
town. At the annual town meeting, in March, 1868, it was voted to appropri- 
ate two thousand dollars to this object, provided that one thousand dollars 
should be raised by contribution or otherwise. Samuel P. Fiske, Benjamin P. 
Oilman, Edward L. Goddard, Charles H. Long and John L. Farwell were chosen 



4 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

a committee to take charge of the whole matter and erect the monument. Sub- 
scription papers were circulated, without limiting the amount that each might 
pay, a dramatic exhibition given, and other means used to obtain the seven 
hundred dollars needed to make up the whole sum of fifteen hundred dollars to 
be contributed to make available the tln-ee thousand dollars voted by the town 
— making up the whole sum of forty-five hundred dollars. Many gentlemen 
subscribed very liberally, while others gave according to their means, and the 
required sum was assured. 

The Committee made a coniract, on very favorable terms, with the artist, 
Martin Milmore, of Boston, for the beautiful Monumental Statue, now standing 
upon the Park. When the monument and grounds were so nearly completed 
that a day could be fixed for the dedication, the Committee called a meeting of 
the citizens of the town, to be held at the Town Hall, on the evening of July 
17, 1869, to take steps for the arranging and carrying out of pi'oper exercises. 
At this meeting Edward L. Goddard was chosen, chairman, and Hosea W. 
Parker, secretary. The following gentlemen were chosen a committee to take 
the whole s^ubject of dedicating the monument in charge : Samuel P. Fiske, 
Benj. P. Oilman, Edward L. Goddard, Charles II. Long, John L. Farwell, 
Oscar J. Brown, John S. Walker, John F. Cossiit, Nathaniel Tolles, Hosea W. 
Parker, J. W. Peircc, Sherman Cooper, Henry Patten, Charles H. Eastman, 
William H. Nichols. 

Subsequently, at a meeting of the Committee of Arrangements, it was voted 
to dedicate the Monument on the anniversary of the battle of Cedar Creek, 
October 10th, 1804, when Gen. Phil. H. Sheridan, by his timely arrival upon 
tlie field, changed a defeat of our arms into a glorious victory, taking fifty 
guns from the enemy. It was also voted to invite Dr. J. Baxter Upham, of 
Boston, a native of the town, to pronounce an oration. The Committee ap- 
pointed the following officers for the day of dedication : President, John S. 
Walker; Vice Presidents, Edward L. Goddard, George N. Farwell, Samuel G. 
Jarvis, Albro Blodgett, Daniel W. Johnson, James P. Upham, Arnold Briggs, 
Daniel S. Bowker, Edward Ainsworth, Charles M. Bingham, William E. Tuth- 
erly, Sylvanus F. Redfield, William Ellis, Fred. P. Smith, Hu-am Webb ; Sec- 
retaries, Joseph Weber, Arthur Chase; Chaplain, Edward W. Clark; Marshal, 
Nathaniel Tolles, — who appointed for Assistants, Edwin W. Tolles, Edward J. 
Tcnney, Sherman Cooper and George 11. Stowell. He also appointed Otis F. 
R. Waite, Hosea W. Parker, William H. H. Allen and Francis F. Haskell, to 
receive and attend to the comfort of invitetl guests. 

Invitations were extended by circulars to many prominent gentlemen, and 
by posters to the people generally, to be present and join in the ceremonies. 
The day arrived and was ushered in by a salute of thirty-seven guns and the 
ringing of bells at sunrise. It was one of those changeable days quite common 
in October — clouds, sunshine and squalls rapidly succeeding each other— yet a 
large concourse of people, variously estimated at from five to ten thousand, 
and among the number many distinguished ladies and gentlemen from the east- 
ern and middle portions of the State, assembled to do honor to the occasion. 



ADDEESS OF SAMUEL P. FISKE. 5 

At half-past nine o'clock, A. M., the invited guests were met at the railroad 
station and conveyed in carriages to the village. At ten o'clociv a procession, 
consisting of invited guests and officers of the day in carriages, fire companies, 
Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, and citizens, was formed on the Com- 
mon, under the direction of the Marshal, and, escorted by the Stearns Guards, 
of Claremont, headed by the Claremont Cornet Band, marched tlirough Broad, 
North, Maple, Elm, Union, Sullivan, Pleasant, Summer and Broad streets, to 
the speaker's stand, at the east side of the Common, and facing tlie Monumental 
Statue to be dedicated. There was also a stand for the Band and Choir erected 
against the south wall of the Universalist church. 

Arrived at the stand, the Band performed a national air. The Marshal, 
Nathaniel Tolles, called the assembly to order, and introduced hainuel P. Fiske, 
chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. 



ADDRESS OF SAMUEL P, FISKE. 

Fellow Citizens : As cliairman of a committee chosen 
by the town, in March, 1868, it devolves upon me to 
make a statement of the inception and progress of the 
work upon a Soldiers' Monument. 

The idea of erecting, in some form, a lasting memorial 
to the brave men of Claremont who rushed to the rescue 
of the government when imperiled, and who laid down 
their lives in the cause of their country, originated— as 
p-ood thino-s often do — with the ladies. 

When, in April, 1865, Gen. Grant brought the war of 
the rebellion to a sudden close, by the capture of Rich- 
mond and of Lee's army at Appomattox, the ladies of the 
^'Auxihary Sanitary Commission" had about one hundred 
and sixty dollars remaining in their treasury, which they 
voted should be placed at interest, to form a nucleus for a 
Soldiers' Monument fund. The amount was in various 
ways subsequently increased, though no decisive steps 
were taken until March, 1868, when the town, at its an- 
nual meeting, appropriated two thousand dollars, mak- 
ing with a former appropriation three thousand dollars, 
to be exi3ended in the erection of a Soldiers' IMonument, 
provided that one-half of that amount should be raised 



6 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

from other sources. At tliat meeting* Samuel P. Fiske, 
Beiij. V. Gilman, Edward L. Goddard, Charles H. Long 
and John L. Farwell, were chosen a committee to have 
charge of the matter, raise the money and erect the 
Monument. 

The Committee, fellow-citizens, impressed "with the 
belief that permanence and durability were indispensable, 
and that 

" A thing of beauty is a joy forever," 

proceeded, with the limited funds at their disposal, to carry 
out what they believed to be the will of a large majority 
of the people interested. 

After considering and rejecting many plans, they were 
fortunately placed in correspondence with jSIartin ]Milmore, 
of Boston, wlio, by reason of his devotion to art, conformed 
to their means, and they were enabled to contract for the 
beautiful, and, as they believe, most appropriate Memorial 
Statue, which we are assembled to-day to dedicate with 
fitting ceremonies. 

Mr. Fiske announced the officers of the day, and introduced the President, 
John S. Walker, who said: 

Citizens : Recognizing, as I trust we all do, the overruling hand of Provi- 
dence in all our affairs, public and private, let us unite with the Chaplain, 
Rev. Mr. Clark, in the invocation of the divine blessing. 

PRAYER BY REV. EDWARD W. CLARK. 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, under this morn- 
ing's light, we worship thee. In these beauties of nature 
around us we recognize the wonder-working hand of our 
Father. Thou art the inexhaustible source of all good, 
and we praise thee for thine excellent greatness. We call 
upon our souls, and all that is within us, to bless thy holy 
name. Command, we beseech thee, thy ftivor upon this 
day, this occasion, this assemblage of the people, and all 
the services of the hour. AVe own thee as ruler among 
the nations. Thou appointest the lot of all ; and we thank 



PRAYER BY REV. MR. CLARK. 7 

tliee that the lines liave folleu to us in such pleasant places, 
and that we have so goodly an heritage. We render thee 
thanks for our pleasant homes ; our protection under just 
law, and for all our social and religious privileges. We 
praise thee for our happy form of government ; for the 
ample domain of our country, affording refuge and homes 
to oppressed millions; for its plenteous products, crowning 
the year with goodness; for its works of invention and art; 
for its schools of instruction, scattering knowledge among 
all classes, and for the free possession and use of the holy 
scriptures. Father, we thank thee that when the arm of 
foes was raised in madness to strike down our beloved 
flag, and rend our Union of States, the loyal millions rose 
in defense, and thousands of patriotic hearts gave freely 
of wealth and life to save our land. Fathers and mothers 
gave sons, and wives husbands, and sisters brothers, to 
suffer and die for liberty. We praise thee for our regular 
army, and for our citizen-soldiery, who, led by noble 
and patriotic officers, went forth to conquer or to die. 
And we praise thee that, guided and protected b}- thy hand, 
they did conquer the foe, and now we have a country for 
the most part, united and at peace. We especially thank 
thee for those who went forth from this town, whose mem- 
ory we cherish, and whose noble deeds and death in their 
country's service we this day celebrate, and erect a mon- 
ument to their honor, and to perpetuate the remembrance 
of their toils, sacrifice and death for the land they loved. 
Bless the widows and orphans of our noble dead. Bless 
the soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic, all over 
the land, and the Post established here, and those with us 
from abroad, who with equal love for country, toiled and 
sacrifi.ced and exposed themselves to death, but who, pro- 
tected by thy gracious hand, returned from the strife of 
battle to join with us in honoring their comrades. 
Guide these services. Let them kindle our hearts to 
a new flame of patriotic love and devotion. Aid thy 



8 SOLDIERS' MONmfENT. 

sor\aiit wlio si) all address us in memory of the dead, 
and may liis words inspire us to all worthy thoughts 
and deeds. These things we do humbly ask through 
Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen ! 

ADDKESS OF THE PRESII>ENT, JOHN S. "WALKER. 

Fellow Citizens : We have invited you to join with 
us in unveiling to-day a Statue in honor of the volunteer 
soldiers in the late war, living and dead, of and from 
Claremont. 

"VVe are happy to see that you have not delegated the 
acceptance of our invitation to a few representatives — hut 
have come yourselves. 

In the name of our people, whom the Committee repre- 
sent, I hid you, each and all, a hearty, a cordial welcome. 
In considering how we could best give expression to our 
own feelings and our own sense of what would he suitable 
and appropriate in the way of ceremonies fitting to the 
occasion, we were unwilling to make our observance of 
them a merely local and town affair. Inasmuch as the 
Statue about to be unveiled is the embodiment of the form 
and spirit of patriotism familiar and common throughout 
the country, and wrought out by the artist, as we thinky 
in a masterly, yet modest and beautiful fashion, we desired 
that our neighbors in other towns should look upon it a& 
a memorial also of their heroic dead,^ and to appropriate it 
as fully as we do or can, as a sacred, enduring and hal- 
lowed memorial of the period to be forever pre-eminent in 
our national history, when they died that the RepubHc 
might live. 

We desired that the honored Cliief Magistrate of the 
Commonwealth, whose character and person are held in 
warmest respect, should lend dignity and grace to the 
occasion, by his presence. He scarcely needs to be assured 
how fifladlv we welcome him. 



ADDRESS OF JOHN S. WALKER. 9 

In the choice of a clay for this inauguration, our minds 
could not but revert to that fearful, but most memoraljle, 
because grandly victorious day — of which this is the anni- 
versary — the Battle of Cedar Creek, And, most naturally, 
we greatly desired the presence of him Avho turned that 
m.orning of disaster into an evening of joy and rejoicing 
— Gen. Phil. Sheridan. He accepted an invitation, and 
we had hoped and expected, until this morning, that he 
would have been wdth us. I am sure you will share the 
disappointment felt by the Committee at receiving a 
dispatch, saying it would be impossible for him to meet us 
to-day. 

Chicago, 111., Oct. 19, 18G9. 
J. S. Walker : — I telegraphed a few days ago to Gov. Stearns my inability 
to attend the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument at Claremont to-day, in 
consequence of the illness of Admiral Farragut in this city. Plea.se say to my 
old comrades and the good people in attendance, how deeply I regret not being 
present with them to do honor to the memory of the gallant men from New 
Hampshire who fell in defense of the Union and their rights. 

P. H. SHERIDAN, 

Lieut. Gen. 

To convince you, fellow citizens, how confidently we 
expected the presence of Gen. Sheridan, I will read to 
you his unqualified letter of acceptance: 

Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri, ) 
Chicago, Sept. 22, 1869. ) 
Mr. J. S. Walker, Claremont, N. H. — My dear Sir : — Gen. Sheridan directs 
me to say that he accepts with pleasure the invitation of the citizens of Clare- 
mont to be present at the inauguration of a Soldiers' Monument, on the lUth 
of October next. 

The delay in answering the invitation has been owing to the ftict that the 
General did not know positively until to-day whether he could get away at that 
date. 

He expects to accompany Gov. Stearns from Concord, as it is his intention to 
spend a day or two with him prior to the date named for the inauguration. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

GEO. A. FORSYTH, 
Bvt. Brig. Gen. U. S. A., Mil. Sec. 

It is, perhaps, enough for me to say that we did not 
entertain the shadow of a doubt that he would be present. 



10 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

'V\w reasons given in the dispatcli I liavercad must be his 
excuse. But, gentlemen, the central figure of this occa- 
sion is yonder bronze, about to be unveiled, and we shall 
proceed with the ceremonies of the dedication, whether 
General Sheridan l)e here or elsewhere. 

Fellow citizens, we have with us to-day some of our 
honored Senators and Representatives in Congress. We 
have many gentlemen eminent in military or civil life, or 
both, all of whom we cherish and welcome, and all of 
whom you shall have a chance to see and hear. 

I am detaining you too long from the rarer dishes of 
the feast. It only remains for me to say, — let the statue 
which we have erected, to stand in sunsliinc and in storm, 
from generation to generation, the instruction, the admo- 
nition, the admiration of our children and our children's 
children, the testimony and memorial of the patriotism 
and the sacrifices of the A^olunteer Soldiers in the late war, 
be now unveiled. 

The signal being given, the American flag, which had enveloped the bronze 
Statue, was skillfully lifted therefrom by Samuel P. Fiske, chairman of the 
Monument Committee, assisted by Benj. P. Oilman, raised to the top of the 
pole, and floated in the breeze over the Monument. The roaring of cannon, 
rolling of drums, cheers of the crowd, and the "Star Spangled Banner," 
sung by the Choir, accompanied by the Band, greeted the splendid efiigy of 
that noblest of characters, the Citizen Soldier. 

The President introduced the Oi-ator, Dr. J. Baxter Upham, of Boston, a 
native of Claremont. 

DR. UPHAM'S oration. 

" The whole land," said Pericles, the matchless Grecian 
orator, speaking in commemoration of the Athenian dead 
" the Avhole land is the sepulchre of illustrious men." 

This was spoken, more than two thousand years ago, of 
that staunch and loyal little Republic, — "the land of pop- 
ular liberty, — the home of letters and of arts," strong in 
its love of the right, brave of heart, invincible in spirit, 



BE. VPHAM'S ORATION. 11 

but wliose geograpliical area, in comparison with our own 
vast domain, is as that of an acre to tlie Largest hmits of a 
State. And now, after so long a Lapse of ages, can it not, 
with equal significance, be said of this fair Republic ? 
Founded in a brave resistance to foreign usurpation and 
aggression, maintained under the jealousy and covert 
antagonism of the kingly powers of Europe, passing un- 
harmed through minor wars and disturbances, it has, in 
these latter days of its comparatively brief existence, been 
called upon to sufter and to put down the most wicked, 
as it was the most determined and obstinate, and, may I 
not add, the mightiest and most stupendous rebellion the 
world has yet seen. Yes, — the whole land may now be 
called a sepulchre of the illustrious dead. They lie in 
every field and forest, on the banks of rivers, under the 
shadows of the solemn hills, by the shores of the sea and 
in its unsounded depths, in the quiet graveyards of every 
town and village and hamlet, — and their presence per- 
vades and sanctifies the earth, the air, and the sea. 

Standing here, under this gray October sk\^, near the 
spot where I was born, on an occasion at once so novel 
and so impressive, before these high dignitaries of the 
State, these hero-representatives of our armies, in the 
presence of this vast multitude who have come up hither 
from all parts of the old county of Cheshire, and from 
more distant towns, — many of whom are known to me 
from my childhood, — a crowd of tender recollections 
comes rushing back upon my brain. 

" The outward world around us remains indeed the 
same. The same nature — undying, undecayed " — is here.. 
But all else, how changed ! As I look out upon these 
scenes, so familiar and dear to me, — this amphitheatre 
among the hills, the solemn Ascutney, the meadow and 
its winding river, to smm in whose waters and skate upon 
whose glassy surface Avas a part of my early education, the 



12 SOLDlEnti' MONUMEKT. 

pite oi tlie old scliool-house and the cliurdi, tliese plains 
and valleys, and fertile fields, calm and peaceful as of old, 
1 can with difficulty bring to myself tile reality that some 
of those who joined with me here in the sports of boyhood 
have passed through the maddening carnage of civil 
war, and I now read their names on yonder tablets — that 
martyr list of heroes. 

But if, amid all the changes, political and social, which 
must needs happen in a quarter of a century and more of 
one's life, it had been possible to foresee that " gi-eat trial 
and great task of our liberty " through which we have just 
gone, I could have also foreseen, to a certainty, that the 
part my native town should bear in it would be just the 
honorable record it has sho\^m. The military history of 
the State justifies this. The chronicles of the town, from 
its first settlement in 1762, have given a warrant and a 
pledge of it. For among the earliest settlers I find the 
names of Joseph AVaite — (wdiether or not an ancestor of 
our respected fellow-citizen of that name, to whom we are 
all so much indebted for his valuable and painstaking his- 
tory of our Claremout soldiers in the recent struggle, I 
cannot say) — 'CoL Joseph Waite, who, on the authority of 
ISlansfield, the annalist, had already won distinction in the 
French and Indian w^ar, was a captain in Rogers' famous 
corps of Rangers in 1759, and commanded a regiment in 
the war of the Revolution, — C'apt. Joseph Taylor, who, in 
1755, was taken by the Indians and sold to the French, 
but escaped and took part in the siege of Louisburg, and 
aftei-ward in the Revolutionary struggle, and died at the 
good old age of 84, in 1813, — Hon. Samuel Ashley, a man 
of note in our annals, who had served ^vith credit in the 
old French war, and filled many oflices of civil trust in the 
town, and others of like distinction, who might be named 
if the time would permit. And immediately upon the 
outbreak of hostilities in 1775, 1 find the names of several 
of our eitizcns upon the muster rolls of the First K'ew 



DR. UFJIAM'S ORATION. 13 

Hampsliire Regiment, — that honored Regiment which, 
under the galUint Stark, was conspicuous at Bunker 
Hill, and which followed the varying fortunes of the 
patriot army till the tinal capitulation at Yorktown. 
The men of Claremont bore their part also in the second 
war with England, on the fields where Miller and 
McXeil so nobly upheld the honor of the State. In 
later struggles, — in Texas, under Houston, one life 
from here, at least, went down to its unknown grave, 
Kor were the Florida and Mexican wars without their 
representatives from this devoted town. 

So, when the news came that treason and rebellion had 
burst forth into actual hostilities on that memorable 12th 
day of April, 1861, true to the old honor and name, the 
citizens of Claremont, with one accord, sprang to meet 
the issue. I need not recall to your minds with what 
alacrity the whole community came together, each vieing 
with the other in encouraging enlistments and furnishing 
that material aid which has well been called " the sinews 
of war " — pledging, if need be, in the spirit and language 
of the Revolutionary fathers, " their lives, their fortunes, 
and their sacred honor," — womanly hands, too, taking up 
the good work and laboring earnestly and unceasingl}* 
for the same noble end — all this is still fresh in your 
memories. 

Within three days from the President's proclamation 
and call for seventy-five thousand men to suppress a re- 
bellion against the government of the United States, and 
immediately upon the order issued b}* the Governor for 
a regiment to be raised in this State to serve for three 
months, an ofiice was opened here for enlistments; " the 
young men," says your historian, " flocked in faster than 
they could be examined and sworn." On the 30tli of the 
same month. Major Waite set forth, with the eighty-five 
patriot soldiers recruited by Capt. Austin, for the rendez- 
vous of the regiment at Concord, — a full company nearly, 



14 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

from tliis iovfn. of about four thousand inhabitants, — 
and, if the whole population of the State had been repre- 
sented in the same ratio, instead of a single regiment of 
seven hundred and eighty rank and tile, enough for more 
than ten regiments could have been had on this first 
call to arms. As it was, more than' enough for two regi- 
ments volunteering, the Claremont men were sent to Ports- 
mouth, where, at the second call of the President, on the 
3d of May, for three hundred thousand men for three 
years, one-half of this company at once re-enlisted, the 
remainder being discharged for disability or sent to the 
defense of the sea-coast at Fort Constitution. This was 
the first ofl-ering of some of its noblest representatives sent 
forth by this town to battle with the Pebellion. They 
could have l^een urged l)y no other than the purest mo- 
tives of patriotism — with no prospect of reward save the 
proud consciousness of doing their duty. 

This regiment, in wdiich they finally enlisted, was vir- 
tually the First of the ISTew Hampshire regiments in the 
war of the Rebellion, though still retained as the Second 
in the nomenclature of the Kew Hampshire line — first, 
as it was, at least, coeval in its organization with the 
three months' regiment which preceded it, by a little, to 
the field of strife, — first, as it had the priority in its actual 
l)aptism of fire and of blood. Xot to lay undue stress 
upon this point, I may be pardoned for dwelling some- 
what on the exploits of this gallant regiment, from the 
circumstances I have already named, and from the fact 
that it was my proud good fortune, at the head of a 
thousand Sons of New Hampshire, to welcome its full 
ranks as it passed through Boston, on its way to Wash- 
ington, on the 20th of June, 1861 ; and therefore I have 
foUoAvcd its onward career with a more than ordinary 
interest. It alone, among the regiments of our State, 
participated in the first great battle of Bull Run, doing all, 
under its brave leaders, that valor and determination could 



DR. UFHAM'S ORATION. 15 

do to breast the woful disasters of tliat day — giving, 
in the death of Andrew J. Straw, of tliis town, the first 
jSTew Hampshire martyr to freedom, sUiin in battle, in this 
war. The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded 
was severe. Its gallant Colonel was stricken down at the 
head of his command, early in the action, but returned 
and continued in the fight. It went into the fray with 
full ranks and buoyant spirits. It came out of it with at 
least equal honor with any other of that patriot army, 
which then and there learned the stern but salutary les- 
son of a first defeat. Its next experience was at the siege 
of Yorktown, and, immediately afterwards, at the san- 
guinary battle of Williamsburg, where it fought with 
honor and with varying success, with the loss of about 
one hundred men. We hear of it next at Fair Oaks and 
Malvern Hill, and in most of the bloody battles of the 
memorable seven days' fight and retreat to the James 
River. The following year, after consecrating itself anew 
to the cause at the second Bull Run, where it behaved 
with distinguished gallantry, losing ten of its twenty-one 
commissioned otficers, and one hundred and thirty-two 
of the little more than three hundred rank and file with 
which it entered the fight, it encamped at night on the 
identical spot where it formed its first line of battle in 
1861. Thence its route was direct to Chantilly and Fred- 
ericksburg, in which last it found in the General-iu-chief 
of the Army, its tried and faithful leader under whom, 
as Colonel commanding a brigade, it had fought at the 
first Bull Run. In the memorable battle of Gettysburg 
its gallantry was conspicuous, suifering a loss, in killed 
and wounded, of a majority of its field and line ofiicers 
and more than one-half of its rank and file. The next year 
finds the regiment engaged in the action at Drury's Bluft^ — 
the battles of Cold Harbor and second Fair Oaks, and the 
siege of Petersburg. This was after it had returned to 
]^ew Hampshire, been reorganized, had incorporated into 



16 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

its ranks the residue of the 17tli, a nine months' regi- 
ment, and otherwise recruited its shattered forces and 
come back with a renewed vigor to the scene of conflict. 
The regiment was subsequently in several skirmishes, 
and minor engagements, losing heavily in the aggre- 
gate — took part, under Butler, in the defense of Bermuda 
Hundred — and, on the 3d of April, 1865, entered the 
city of liichmoud and encamped on its outskirts, amid 
the smoke and cinders of the burning capital. Here it 
remained till after the surrender at Appomattox. It was 
not till the 26tli of December following that tlie corps 
was finally paid off and disbanded, having enlisted earlier 
and remained later in the field than any other perma- 
nent organization from the State. 

" The Roll of this regiment," writes one of its field 
officers, " presents, since its organization, a list of more 
than three thousand names. Every regiment from New 
Hampshire, with two exceptions, has been supplied, in 
part, with officers from its ranks. The rosters in more 
than thirty regiments in the field contain the names of 
those who were once identified with it. It has marched 
six thousand miles, participated in more than twenty 
pitched battles, and lost in action upwards of one thou- 
sand men." 

I have already alluded to the First New Hampshire 
regiment in the war of the Revolution. On looking 
carefully into its history, I am struck with the remark- 
able parallel between that and the regiment we have 
just been considering. Go back with me over the 
intervening period of nearly a hundred years and 
attest to the truth of this. In that war New Hamp- 
shire maintained three full regiments in the field, 
called the 1st, 2d and 3d of the New Hampshire Line. 
Besides these, there were others which served under a 
militia organization, for brief periods and at various 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 17 

times, as emergencies required. Two days after the attack 
of the British forces upon our troops at Lexington, a con- 
vention of delegates assembled at Exeter to take meas- 
ures " to assist our suffering brethren in the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay and to order the necessary supplies 
for the troops." Immediately the men of New Hamp- 
shire were on their way to Cambridge, where they were 
organized in two regiments under the already famous 
John Stark of Londonderry, and James Reed of the 
county of Cheshire. They went into camp at JNIedford, 
the former with twelve, the latter with ten full compa- 
nies. " On the day oi' the battle of Bunker Hill," says 
Frothingham, "about the time when the British army 
had landed, the New Hampshire regiments under Stark 
and Reed arrived from Medford. Stark had marched at 
a leisurely pace over the Neck, which was swept by the 
fire of the floating batteries of the enemy, ' because,' as 
he said to his commanding General, ' one fresh man in 
action is better than ten who are exhausted.'" I need 
not recount the deeds of these men of New Hampshire 
on that eventful day. They were posted, as you know, 
at the historical rail-fence, where the battle raged the 
fiercest and the British dead w^ere strown the thickest — 
and, as they were among the first of the re-enforcements 
to arrive, so, with ammunition spent, outnumbered by 
more than ten to one of the hostile forces, they were the 
last to take up the reluctant retreat. Li 1776, Stark was 
ordered on the expedition to Canada, and, on his return, 
formed, with his regiment, a part of Gen. Sullivan's Brig- 
ade, under the command of Washington, at Philadelphia. 
Remaining, at the special entreaty of Washington, after 
the term of their enlistment had ex]^)ired, the regiment 
shortly afterward took a brilliant and glorious part in the 
battles of Trenton and of Princeton — how important will 
appear when we remember that, of the three divisions of 
the army, directed to cross the river and attack the ene- 



18 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

my at Ti'eiiton, tliat containing tliC K^ew England troops 
alone succeeded in effecting a passage. Gen. Sullivan, 
with the brigade of I^ew Hainpshire soldiers, was the first 
to commence the attack. Col. Stark, with his regiment, 
led the right wing and, as Wilkinson writes, " dealt death 
wherever he found resistance, and bore down all opposi- 
tion before him." At Princeton^too, "no regiment," we 
are told, "was more conspicuous than that commanded 
b}' Col. Stark." We find it next at Saratoga, where, on 
the 7th of October, 1777, under Col. Cilley, the successor 
of Stark, it did much in aid of that signal success of our 
arms wdiich led, on the 17th of the same month, to the 
surrender of Burgovne with his army. It was here the 
l^ew Hampshire troops several times took and retook the 
cannon of the enemy, driving all before them. We can 
not stop to follow minutely the brilliant career of the regi- 
ment from this time onward ; it appears again with its 
>'ictorious banner at Bennington and at Bemis' Heights — 
we find it foremost in the pursuit of the enemy's retreat- 
ing columns at Monmouth Court House — we see it 
throwing up intrenchments on tlie rugged heights at Still- 
Avater — we trace its bloody footsteps on the snows of that 
terrible winter at Valley Forge — wq hail it exultingly, 
under Scanimel and Dearborn, in the siege and surrender 
at Yorktown — ^and we bid it a tender and afiectionate 
farewell when, on that 1st of January, 1784, the w^ar long 
since over, after eight years and eight months of continu- 
ous and most arduous service,, its scarred veterans rest 
finally from the labor of arms and return to their peaceful 
homes.. 

It is interesting to note the similarity in the fortunes of 
these two regiments separated by an interval of almost a 
hundred years.. Both were coeval in their organization 
Avitli the commencement of the war — both were engaged 
with honor in the first great struggle of their respective 
campaigns — both were prominent in most of the decisive 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 19 

battles — both conspicuous for bravery of commanders and 
men — ^both present, or at least witliin sound of the guns, 
at the final surrender ; both also prolonged their term of 
service beyond the usual period — both were the last, or 
among the very last, to lay down their arms and return 
to their homes. Are not these significant facts? Do 
they not teach us that history has not gone backward — 
the heroic age has not passed away — the sons of Xew 
Hampshire are not degenerate — the children of to-day are 
able and willing and worthy to accept and maintain the 
glorious legacy of their sires ? 

ISTew Hampshire gave to the country, in this last trial 
of her faith, the services of eighteen regiments of infant- 
ry — fourteen for three years or the war, one for three 
months, three for nine months, of which one was subse- 
quently merged in a former and more enduring organiza- 
tion — a full regiment of cavalry — a regiment of heavy, 
and a battery of light artillery — and three companies of 
sharp-shooters, beside its representatives in several of 
the regiments from other States, and its full quota for 
the N'avy. 

The regiment I have designated, and whose record I 
have dwelt upon somewhat, is but the type of all the rest. 
By several indeed it has been surpassed in the severity of 
hardships endured, and the fearful sacrifices made in 
hospitals and in the field ; the Third, the Fifth, the Sixth, 
the Seventh, the ISTinth and the Fourteenth Intantry, the 
regiment of Cavalry, the Artillery and the several compa- 
nies of Sharp-shooters, contained each their full quota 
of Claremont men, and, as their brave officers here can 
attest, were mostly in the hardest and thickest of the fight. 
The mere mention of their battles would form a catalogue 
too long for enumeration. Their field of operations cov- 
ered almost the whole battle-ground of the Rebellion; 
they fought with McDowell, with McClellan, with Burn- 
side, with Hooker, with Meade, with Banks, with Foster, 



20 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

with Sherman, with Sheridan, with Grant; in the East, 
in the West, in the Sonth ; in the Carohnas, in Florida, 
in Louisiana, in Arkansas, in Kentucky, in Tennessee — 
in the Army of the Potomac, of the James, of the Cum- 
horland, of the Mississippi, of the Gulf — l)iit chiefly, to 
their good fortune be it known, and first and last, in that 
gloi'ious though much abused old Army of the Potomac — 
of which so much has been said, and justly said, in 
praise, of which much also, in the dark days of our coun- 
try's bitterest trial and almost desperation, too much, 
alas! has been said in disparagement and derision — "that 
much suftering old army," as the gallant and eloquent 
General Chamberlain has said of it, " scoffed at for not 
moving, but never, that he had lieard of, for not dying 
enough — wonderful old army whose casualties were such 
that decimation were five times too tame a word to tell 
its losses; an army sometimes changing its base, and often 
its commanders, but never its loyalty and its steadfast 
devotion — self-denying old army., so often held back from 
following up the victory, because it was the Army of the 
Potomac and must not uncover Washington — schooled 
in the passive no less than in the active virtues, disciplined 
in patience, in fortitude, in self-control; ready to lay 
down their arms at the feet of the constitutional authority 
with as much sincerity, as much humility, as they had 
seen in the hostile host that had laid down at their feet 
the arms and colors of its lost cause." 

On the marble tablets in yonder Town Hall — which 
from henceforth shall be a memorial hall as well — we 
may trace the names of seventy-three young men who 
fought in these armies and voluntarily laid down their 
lives upon the altar of their country — more than a sev- 
enth part of the four hundred and forty-nine who from 
first to last enlisted here — so many, alas ! in number, that 
there is not room for them upon the entablature of this or 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 21 

any common monument. I could wisli it were possible 
to write them, one and all, in letters of living liglit, on 
the sides of these everlasting hills, that they might be 
known and read of all men. Sntfer me reverently to 
speak to you some of these familiar names. 

Col. Alexander Gardiner, commandiug the Four- 
teenth Regiment — the model of a faithful, efficient offi- 
cer, the scholarly and accomplished gentleman. Capt. 
Wm. Henry GhafRn, acting Lieut. Col. of his Regiment, 
and Lieut. Henry S. Paull — both brave and true men, 
killed at the same time that their beloved commander 
was mortally wounded, at the battle of Opequan Creek, 
near Winchester, on the 19th day of September, 1864 — 
over whose remains, with others slain in that memora- 
ble engagement, a grateful State has placed a monument 
on the field. 

Lieut. Ruel G. Austin, mortally wounded at the battle 
of Gettysburg. 

Lieut. Charles 0. Ballon, " whose memor}^ shall be 
kept," wrote the Captain of his Company, " so long as 
the banner of the glorious Fifth continues to wave." 

Lieut. Robert Henry Chase, " than whom IS'ew Hamp- 
shire has sent no braver man to the field," said the com- 
mandiug officer of his Regiment. 

Lieut. Samuel Brown Little, stricken down in the 
thickest of the fight at Antietam, and, though still disa- 
bled, hastening to Fredericksburg, to receive there his 
mortal wound. 

Lieut. George ISTettleton, whose last words to his wife 
were — " If I fall, remember it was at the post of duty and 
in a noble cause." 

Lieut. Wm. Danford Rice — "too well known and loved 
for any words of mine to add to or detract," wrote Lieut. 
Col. "Whitfield of him. 

Serg't Luther A. Chase, Serg't Horatio C. Moore, 
Serg't Edward F. Moore, Serg't Ard Scott, Serg't George 



22 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

E. Eowell, Serg't Charles W. Wetherbee, — "Dead on 
THE Field of Honor." 

I have thus read, in your hearing, in the order of their 
military rank, a few of the well known names that form 
that Roll of Immortality — dear and cherished amongst 
you every one. I wish it were permitted me to add to 
this shining list the honored name of Major Charles 
Jarvis, who, though not of us, is endeared to us by so 
many familiar associations — endeared especially to some 
now present who served under him during his brief, yet 
glorious career; — but our sister town, just over the river, 
claims his precious dust. 

" Green be the turf above thee, 

Friend of my better days ; 
None knew thee but to love thee. 

Nor named thee but to praise." 

There remains unread a still larger list of the honored 
dead — equally high on the martyr roll of fame; indeed it 
is the peculiar feature of this war that in the rank and 
file of the patriot army are to be found instances innu- 
merable of heroic daring — of devotion, of self-sacrifice 
and christian patriotism — that can hardly be paralleled 
in the annals of war in all the world. To name two or 
three only of such instances; Take young Putnam of 
the Second, who in the hurried and disastrous retreat 
of the first Bull Run, found time to go out of his way to 
visit his wounded associates in the hospital, and to get 
water for his dying comrades, under the storm of the 
enemy's shot and shell — of whom his commanding ofli- 
cer wrote, " his kindness and manly bearing had taught 
me to love him like a brother;" and ISTeal of the Third, 
whose last regret was that " he had but one life to give 
to his country;" and Hart of the Fifth, Charles A. Hart, 
who, when mortally wounded and left upon the field, did 
just what immortalized the name of Sir Phillip Sidney at 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 23 

the battle of Zutplien — declined the proftered aid to him- 
self in favor of another at his side who seemed to him to 
need it more. But I forbear. My excellent friend, the 
Chaplain here, could tell you, I doubt not, of a hundred 
like instances of noble and manly devotion to duty and 
to humanity, which the exercise of his sacred functions in 
hospital and on the Held has privileged him to know. 
He could tell you of such tender and touching words 
committed by dying lips to his keeping — such instances of 
exalted patriotism — such love of kindred and of friends 
— such high and holy faith — such yearnings after the 
higher good — such aspirations for heaven breathed out 
by these young lives in death as, clothed in the garb of 
poesy and song, would stir our souls as with the music 
of a mighty symphony. 

The question very naturally arises just here — as it 
has arisen and been answered a hundred times already 
on occasions like this — Wliy all this outpouring of 
precious blood? Was the end gained worth the un- 
told sacrifice it cost? Are the olyects secured worthy 
of these hecatombs of human lives which have been 
oiFered up so freely in every city and village and hamlet 
throughout the land ? We cannot stop now to discuss 
the origin and causes of this gigantic rebellion ; nor is 
there need of it: they are well known to the oldest and 
the youngest before me. I will only recall to you the 
words of the archleaders themselves of the great con- 
spiracy, to show that they well knew they were plotting 
treason against the fairest and best government on the 
face of the earth, and that, in spite of all their assertions 
to the contrary, they stand convicted, from out of their 
own mouths, of a parricidal determination to subvert 
that government, in order to serve their own selfish ends. 
As late as N"ovember, 1860, Alexander II. Stephens, 
afterward Vice-President of the so-called Confederacy, 
speaking of the heritage handed down to us by our 



24 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

fathers, called it "the most beneficent government of 
which history gives us any account." Jefferson ])avis, 
from his seat in the IT. S. Senate, during that very win- 
ter when secession was brewing in tlie South, declared 
it to be "the best government ever instituted by man, 
miexceptionably administered, and under which the 
people have been prosperous beyond comparison with 
any other people whose career has been recorded in his- 
tory." Yet Mr. Everett tells us that, in that winter of 
-1800-01, witliin his own })ersonal knowledge, it was 
admitted in sul)stance, \)\ one of the most influential 
leaders of secession, tliat, because, for the first time 
since the adoption of tlie constitution, an election of 
President had been ettected without the votes of the 
South, tlie rebellion was to be conunenced by the occu- 
pation of the national capital, with the seizure of the 
public archives and of the treaties with foreign powers ; 
and it was fondly thought that this object could be 
efiected by a l)old and sudden movement, on the 4th of 
March, l.SOl. God be praised that by the prudent fore- 
thought and preparation of the veteran chief then in 
command of our slender military force, this foul conspir- 
acy was for the moment frustrated and so dire a national 
disgrace and calamity averted ! It was therefore in the 
spirit of hatred and revenge — for tlie wicked and unlaw- 
ful assumption of the power into their own hands — that 
these leaders of the rebellion were willing to destroy 
that " beneficent government," and drench their fiiir 
land, if need be, with the blood of half a million of its 
sons. For this they fired upon their country's flag when 
the "Star of the West" attempted to relieve the fam- 
ishing garrison in Charleston harbor. For this they 
declared in their so-called confederate congress, at ISIont- 
gomery, that, before the end of May, their secession 
banner should be planted on the dome of the Capitol at 
Washington. For this they precipitated the savage 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 25 

attack upon Sumter and its devoted band, and forced 
upon the reluctant jSTortli a war which, for the magni- 
tude of its proportions and the extent of its field of 
operations, has no parallel in history. 

But the results — the results ; are they commensurate 
with such fearful sacrifices ? This is the question 
which continually recurs to us, and which these silent 
memorials, springing up all over the land, will he ever 
reminding us of. What then are some of the results 
obtained ? Imagine for a moment what would have been 
our condition to-day if we had failed of success ; if we 
had not, by the continued recruiting of our armies, "op- 
posed force to force so long as a vestige of hostile force 
remained ;" if we had not urged the chalice of direful 
war prepared by our misguided brethren of the South 
to their own lips and made them drink it to tlie l>itter 
dregs. ISTo words of mine can paint the j)icture with 
anything like an adequate coloring. I borrow the words 
of Mr. Everett, in his masterly oration at the consecration 
of the I^ational Cemetery at Gettysburg, in j^ovember, 
1863 (this before the war was decided, remember), when 
I say that "on the issue depends whether or not this 
august republican Union, founded by some of the wisest 
statesmen that ever lived, cemented with the blood of 
some of the purest patriots that ever died, should perish 
or endure. * * * * -po yield to the demands of the 
South and acknowledge its independence, thus resolving 
the Union at once into two hostile governments, wdth a 
certainty of further disintegration, would annihilate the 
strength and influence of the country as a member of 
the family of nations ; aflx)rd to foreign powers the op- 
portunity and the temptation for humiliating and disas- 
trous influence in our afiairs; widest from the Middle 
and Western States some of their great natural outlets 
to the sea, and of their most important lines of internal 
communication; deprive the commerce and navigation 



26 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

of tlie country of two-thirds of our sea coast and of tlie 
fortresses which protect it; not only so, but would en- 
able each individual state to cede its territory, its harbors, 
its fortresses, the mouths of its rivers to any foreign 
powers. It cannot be,"' he concludes, " that the people 
of the loyal states M'ill, for the teni[)tation of a brief 
truce in an eternal border-war, consent to this hideous 
national suicide." 

As to the positive benefits that have accrued — they 
are more and greater than can be told in the brief time 
at my command. "That these young men threw them- 
selves promptly and heartily into the war," says Higgin- 
son, " and that not in recklessness and bravado, not 
merely won by the dazzle of a uniform, or allured by 
the charm of personal poAver, or controlled by ' that last 
infirmity,' ambition — but evidently governed, above all 
things else, by a solid conviction of duty and of right 
— ^to have established incontestably this one point, is 
worth the costly sacrifice which completed the demon- 
stration." But more than this, — we have earned a 
name and a fame in liistory such as no other nation on 
the earth can surpass. Xot republican Greece or Rome 
in their palmiest days, can furnish a brighter record of 
patriotism. ISTot Marathon or Thermopyla', or Pharsa- 
lia, or Marengo, or Waterloo can bring witness of 
bloodier or more sternly contested battles. Against 
Miltiades, against Csesar, against Wellington, against 
^ey, against Nelson, we presume to place our Grant, 
our Sherman, our Meade, our Sheridan, our Farragut. 
Think you if that illustrious charge had been made by 
Americans instead of by Frenchmen, under the leader- 
ship of OUR 3Iarsh(d Ncy, the triple wall of English bay- 
onets even, could have long withstood the impetuous 
onset? 

This war has taught us to trust in our own resources, 
and not lean too confidingly on the faith and friend- 



DR. UPHAM'S ORATION. 27 

ship of any foreign nation, even if it be our own kindred 
and blood. It has taught us to rely, under God, on the 
strong right arm of the people — on that intelligence and 
sense of honor and of justice and right which pervades 
the great mass of our citizens, whether native born or 
adopted; that, however much smaller issues may at 
times divide and distract us, there exists deeper down a 
great undertow of loyalty and of patriotism that will 
always and surely bring us out right in the end. It 
has shown to us the real meanins; and sis-nificance of 
independence in its fullest and largest sense. It has 
given to us, at last, a liberty which is the substance 
and synonym of freedom. And it has given back to us, 
in its entirety and its integrity, in all its comeliness and 
goodly proportions and vast extent, without compromise 
or reserve, beyond all question and controversy in the 
future, OUR country! Is not this worth the cost, my 
friends — yes! even the cost of all these dear and pre- 
cious ones you have been called to offer up in death ? 

" 0, Beautiful ! my country ! ours once more ! 

Smoothing tliy gold of war-dishevelled hair 

O'er such sweet brows as never other M'ore, 

What were our lives without thee? 

What all our lives to save thee? 

We reck not what wo gave thee ; 

We will not dare to doubt thee ; 

Bow down, dear Land, for thou hast found release ! 

Bow down in Prayer and Praise ; 

Thy God, in these distempered days. 

Hath taught thee the sure wisdom of His ways, 

And TUKOUGH TUiNE ENEMIES hath wroiu/lit thy peace." 

Let us turn, for a moment, to the contemplation of 
this memorial structure which you have reared in grate- 
ful acknowledgment of the deeds of the patriotic dead. 
As it emerged just now from its drapery of flags, amid 
the salutation of cannon and martial music and the 
plaudits of this vast multitude, I hailed it as the fittest 



28 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

and purest symbol of all this cudunuico and suffering 
and sacrifice. I see in its manly form and calm and 
restful pose, the trusting, thoughtful, brave, intelligent 
citizen soldier of the Republic. 1 congratulate the 
youthful artist here upon his happily conceived design — 
so nobly planned, so successfully accomplished. I con- 
gratulate the committee of my fellow citizens upon the 
consideration and good taste they have shown in the 
execution of their delicate trust. I congratulate the 
town of my nativity on the possession of so noble and 
beautiful a work of art. More than all I rejoice with 
the bereaved ones before me that, in this almost living, 
breathing bronze, they may, each for themselves, behold 
again the image of their martyred dead. 

There stands in the middle of Place Yendome, in 
Paris, a column of grand and lofty proportions, made 
from the iron and bronze of captured cannons, and sur- 
mounted by the statue of the first Napoleon. At night- 
fall the veteran survivors of those memorable campaigns 
come and sit down and weep around this statue — it may 
be with thoughts of the departed glory of their great 
hero, it may be with recollections of his fruitless victo- 
ries. I^ot so with this emblem of your departed braves. 
Yours is cause for joy and exultation rather than grief; 
yours the saying of that Spartan mother who through 
her tears could yet exclaim — "I w^ould not exchange 
my dead son for any living one upon the earth:" yours 
a heritage better than wealth, better than titled honors, 
better than coronets bestowed by kings and emblazoned 
on books of heraldry. 

The pyramids cover the dust of once mighty po- 
tentates, whose very names are forgotten. The sol- 
emn Sphynx still looks out over the vast plains of 
Egvj^t, but why it was reared or what it commemorates 
none can tell. Memnon lies shattered and half buried 
in the sand, and its music has no voice for us. But the 



DR. UFHAM'S ORATION. 29 

name and significance of tliis memorial sliaft shall never 
be forgotten; the comparatively fragile structure may 
indeed disappear, — its bronze corrode and the granite 
crumble away, but when those mute lips shall have 
ceased to utter their eloquent lesson to generations yet 
unborn, the memory of this hour shall be still green — 
the light of this hour shall shine along the pathway of 
the ages so long as time endures. 

My friends and fellow citizens — my part of the sad' 
yet grateful duty of this day — oh ! how inadequately 
indeed ! — is accomplished. 

Surviving heroes ! — who so freely offered yourselves 
to death and yet live — to you and your children and 
your children's children, belongs the legacy of thif* 
goodly day. 

Spirits of the heroic dead ' — slain in battle, or dead 
of wounds or disease, of exposure or starvation — martyrs 
to your country and to liberty, — if from your serene 
abode it be permitted you to take cognizance of things 
here, — to you and to your beloved memory -we dedi- 
cate this offering of our admiration and our love. jSTay, 
rather, in the undying words of our martyr President, 
" it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do 
this thing. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate 
— ^we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow the ground 
where rests our heroic dead. It is for us, the living, 
rather to be dedicated to the work they have so nobly 
achieved. It is rather for us to take from these honored 
dead, increased devotion to the cause for which they 
gave the last full measure of devotion ; to highly resolve 
that the dead shall not have died in vain — that this great 
nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, 
and that the government of the people, by the people 
and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 



30 SOLDIERH' MONUMENT. 

Aficr the oration, " America " was sung by tlie Clioir, under tlie leaders'. ip 
of Moses R. Emerson. 

The Presiukn't. — I am happy to say to you fellow citizens, Ihat Governor 
Ktearns, who has honored our dedication with his presence, can make as good 
a speech as the President of the United States, Gen. Grant, could, if he w;re 
here himself. (Great laughter and cheers as the Governor came forward.) 

REMARKS OF aOVEKNOR ONSLOW STEARNS, 

Mr, President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I thank you 
for your kind aud cordial greeting. It affords me groat 
pleasure to express my sympathy with the effort hy 
which this monument, so appropriate in its design and 
so excellent in its execution, has heen completed; and 
with every effort by which it is sought to express in 
enduring form the gratitude we owe to those who sacri- 
iiced their lives in tlie defense and for the ])reservation 
of our country. 

A^Hiile we honor the memory of the dead by monu- 
ments and memorials, we should also remember our 
duty to the survivors whom the fortunes of war have 
rendered deserving objects of our sympathy and aid. 

"VVe have especial cause to be proud of the part which 
IN'ew Hampshire soldiers sustained in the late war. 
They bore our colors with ff rmness and courage in what- 
ever positions they were placed, and their history is a 
l)riglit record of honorable deeds. Among them all 
none were more worthy than those whose memory we 
now seek to honor. 

But after the appropriate words of eulogy that have 
been uttered in your hearing, it is not needful that I 
should speak at length. The occasion itself is eloquent, 
and the beautiful statue before you has a voice above all 
human speech. I regret that the honored chief under 
whose leadership so many of New Hampshire citizen- 
soldiers were proud to serve, is absent from this com- 
memorative service. General Sheridan is detained by 



SPEECH OF EX-GO V. HAERIMAN. 31 

the illness of the gallant Farragut, whose imperishahle 
fame is the common glory of his country. 

With renewed assurances of my gratification and sym- 
pathy, I thank you for your attention and Idndness. 

The PRESirENT. — W'a have wit!i iis to Jay a gentleman whom you have 
often heard before, and to whom you always listen with pleasure — Ex-Gov. 
Harriman. (Cheers.) 

SPEECH OF EX-GOV. WALTER HAllRIMAN. 

Mr. Presidext and Fellow Citizens : I am not the 
orator of the occasion and I shall therefore say hut 
little. The oration — and an admirahle one it was — has 
been pronounced. You have also listened to the appro- 
priate words of His Excellency, and I need say but little. 

You dedicate, to-day, by these imposing ceremonies, 
yonder splendid monument. There it stands, and there 
for ages it will remain, sacred to the memory of your 
dead — attesting your munificence and your patriotism. 

Braver men never faced danger than those whose 
deeds are commemorated by that noble statue. Our citi- 
zen-soldiery took high rank on the roster of heroes, and 
wherever death spread his banquet, ]^ew Hampshire 
furnished many guests. I see before me not a few of 
the war-worn veterans who endured the hardships and 
braved the dangers of the great conflict, but alas ! many 
of their comrades are not here. Their marches, their 
sieges and their conflicts have passed into history ; and 
while we mourn their departure we would gratefully 
welcome to our hearts the cheering consolations of the 
Christian faith, — 

" There is no death ! what ?eems so is transition; 

This liie or nioruil breath 
Is but the suburb of the life elysian, 

AV hose portal we call death. 

In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 

By guardian angels led ; 
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 

They live whom we call dead." 



32 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

Ill tlio presence of their speechless but eloquent dust; 
in the i:)resence of the doubting and sneering foreign 
enemies of free government; in the presence of oppres- 
sed millions of other lands, who, when the sable curtains 
of night seemed to hang over a doomed nation, watched 
our flag with tears ; in the presence of a God of justice, 
we stand pledged to maintain and perpetuate the benefi- 
cent government ^^'hich they died to save ! 

God was with our soldiers, for they were striking 
chains from Ilis children. The l)lood they shed was 
sacred, for they died that the Union might survive ; that 
manhood might be disinthralled ; that groping, down- 
trodden liumanity might have a glorious resurrection ; 
that this nation, the favorite child of Divine Providence, 
clothed with new vigor and beauty, might be raised 
to a purer and higher civilization than it had known 
before. 

In the grand future that lies before us, when this 
nation shall count upon its census roll tliree hundred 
millions of intelligent and liberty-loving people, — when 
it shall l)ecome the evangelizer of the world, the disen- 
thralled and enfranchised everywhere, then as now, will 
scatter flowers and drop tears of gratitude upon the 
tombs of our fallen heroes, and their names Avill be held 
in everlasting remembrance. 

Let us never despair of the people of this country. 
They can endure hardships; they can surmount obsta- 
cles; they can toil and suffer and wait. How vivid the 
recollection to-day, of sacrifices made, of mourning at 
many hearthstones, of widows clothed in the habiliments 
of affliction, of the orphan waiting for the father who 
shall never return. But, thanks be to God ! even the 
eye bedimmed with tears may have glad visions of the 
future, and the stricken heart find consolation in the 
assurance that all these sacrifices will be hallowed in 



SPEECH OF EX GOV. HARRIMAN. 33 

tlie triumph of freedom and the coming greatness and 
glory of our country. Xot now 

" With trumpet's cry and roll of di'unis, 
This way the tide of battle comes," 

but the war is over, and we have cek'ljrated our thanks- 
ffivina: to God for deliverance. The greatest crime of 
modern times has received its doom, and the enemies 
of popular government are justl}' compelled to accept 
terms of readjustment from tlie prevailing party. 

Our eyes now gaze on the grand spectacle of a nation 
saved, liberty the birthright of all, a government of the 
people and for the people, a government, in which, at 
no distant day, not for caste or race or color will any 
citizen be debarred from the ballot-box, and against 
no child, however lowly or unfortunate, will l)e closed 
the door of the school-house. 

Ye down-trodden, give thanks ! "Ye shall go out 
with joy and be led forth with peace." My fellow citi- 
zen — my comrade in arms, be of good cheer. Go forth 
to labor, boldly, trustingly. Life's victories are for 
those who fight life's battles. There is work for all to 
do. There are false principles to uproot, and pernicious 
doctrines to correct. Shrink from no duty: evade no 
responsibility. True to your manhood — true to the he- 
roic demands of justice and right, be yours the struggle 
and yours the glory — 

"Heart within and God o'erhead." 



34 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

The President. — Tliere is another gentleman here who has served tlie 
Coininonweallh as its Chief Magistrate, and wiio lias richly earned the title 
be,«to\veil upon him — the Soldier's Friend — Ex-Gov. Smyth, of Manchester. 
( Cheers.) 

SPEECH OF EX-(iOV. FREDERICK SMYTH. 

Ex-Gov. Sm;si:li tliaiiked the president for introducing 
him as the soklier's friend ; the people for the liearty 
reception given him, and complimented the Monument 
and the patriotic spirit which liad caused its erection. 
He then spoke at consideral)le lengtli of the Homes for 
disabled volunteer soldiers vidiich had been established 
at Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Augusta, 
IMaine. He spoke of the comforts tliat had been provid- 
ed at these Homes for all disabled soldiers who had done 
lionoral)le service in the war of the rebellion ; said they 
were neither hospitals nor alms-houses, but homes, 
where sul)sistence, care, education, religious instruction 
and employment are provided l)y the Congress of the 
United ^^tates, to be paid for from forfeitures and fines 
of deserters from the army. The provision is not a 
charity. It is a contribution of the bounty-jumpers and 
bad soldiers to the good and deserving, and is their 
right. He urged all soldiers who were disabled from 
earning a living to enter these institutions and enjoy 
their advantages, as it was not fit that meritorious dis- 
al)led soldiers should be supported by private or public 
charity. This speech contained many valuable facts in 
regard to these institutions, of which the people gen- 
erally were ignorant. 



SPEECH OF SENA TOR PA TTEPSOX. 35 

The President. — We are rich in the -variety and quality of our entertain- 
ment; and I have the pleasure now to introduce a gentleman who is serving the 
State in the Senate of the United States, and who, having apparently suffered 
somewhat from the chilliness of the day, will doubtless be glad of an opportuni- 
ty to get warmed up — Senator James W. Patterson. 



SPEECH OF SENATOR JAMES W. PATTERSON. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : At the 
outbreak and during the pendency of our hUe civil war, 
I spoke to the citizens of Cbiremont of the perils of the 
government and encouraged your young men to enlist 
for its defense. In your town hall and on the spot 
where yon soldier in bronze rests thoughtfully upon his 
arms, it w^as my privilege to address you and some now 
dead, upon the issues of the great struggle. 

I know with what patriotic enthusiasm your sons and 
brothers threw themselves into the conflict ; I witnessed 
with pride, through the weary and painful years of sac- 
rifice, the unflinching devotion of your people at home. 
Gladly, therefore, did I accept the invitation of our 
honored Chief Magistrate to participate in these memo- 
rial services. I came, however, Avith no tliought to do 
more than to pay a silent tribute of respect to the 
memory of the dead. I will detain you therefore for 
a few moments only, for I can add nothing to the 
appropriate words of eulogy which have been so elo- 
quently spoken by the accomplished orator of the da}-. 

You have not lifted this impressive statue to its place, 
to keep watch and ward through the storms of winter 
and the heats of summer, over the ashes of your fallen 
children, simply to memorialize their death, for all men 
die. It is not to perpetuate the heroism with which 
they fell, for in all your homes, men weak and wasted 
with the long battle of life, meet death calmly when he 
comes in his most fearful forms. It is not to exalt the 



80 SOLDIERS' MONlhMENT. 

virtues oi- tlie sacrifices of the soldier al)ovc those of 
the citizen who falls at his task in the conflicts of peace, 
and amid the unheralded throng. War, except when 
waited to secure or defend some principle essential to 
the wellheing of men, is hrutal, and they who volun- 
tarily engage in it from motives of ])crsonal aggrandize- 
ment, deserve rather the execrations than the gratitude 
of their fellows. But our war was to liherate the slave, 
and to preserve the integrity of the government. 
Your sons fell in the discharge of a great duty. They 
gave their lives for the life of the republic. The offer- 
ing was beautiful and unsullied by any touch of 
selfishness. 

The brilliant and true-hearted Gardiner and his com- 
panions, who sleep in patriot graves, are not here to 
solicit honors at your hands, but you rear this memorial 
monument that the children of the town, in all their 
generations, may remember and emulate the men who 
went forth from your companionship and freely gave 
their lives to liberty in its terrific but decisive grapple 
with arbitrary power. 

The allusion of your orator to the numerous enlist- 
ments of the men of Claremont in the Second Regiment 
of ISTew Hampshire Volunteers, has brought to my 
recollection a thrilling incident of the battle of Gettys- 
burg. The Xew Hampshire Second was under the 
command of the youthful Col. Bailey. He was but a 
boy in age and appearance, but he handled his regiment 
with the coolness and skill of a veteran of a hundred 
battles. His subordinate oflicers were of the same metal 
as himself. 

Col. Bailey's regiment reached the battle-ground early 
on the morning of the second day's fight, and reported to 
General Graham, who immediately ordered them to the 
support of a battery posted in the famous peach orchard, 
which drank the blood of the most terrific carnage of that 



SPEECH OF SENATOR PATTERSON. 37 

day, and through which the tide of battle ebbed and flowed 
from morning until night. Late in the afternoon the 
battery of N'apoleon guns which they had been ordered 
to support, having given place to one of rifled guns, the 
enemy opened a terrific fire, under cover of which their 
infantry advanced from the woods and forced our skir- 
mishers back upon the battery. Then it was, that Col. 
Bailey solicited the privilege of leading our Second in a 
counter charge. The request was granted. Springing to 
their feet our men rushed past the battery and hurled 
themselves with such irresistible force upon the advancing 
foe, as to drive them back within their lines, and then, 
posting themselves behind an old rail-fence, held, for a 
space, the whole pressure of the rebel front, and when 
at last they were compelled by an overwhelming force to 
withdraw, leaving three-fifths of their number dead upon 
the field, they retreated slowly with banners flying, and 
w^ere received back into our lines with loud and long 
huzzas, by men who knew the measure of heroic valor in 
the peril of battle. Among those who there fought and 
fell that day were your sons. 

Allusion has also been made to certain invidious com- 
parisons which have appeared unfavorable to the Army 
of the Potomac. I would utter no word of disparagement 
in respect to any portion of the loyal army; but I am sure 
the Army of the East has nothing to fear from contrasts. 
Unroll the map and read the great battle-names which 
became historic in the long struggle, and tell me if the 
sons of the east did less bloody and valiant work than 
the men of the west. The fires of war that raged all 
along our sea-coast were fed by eastern men. Antietam, 
Gettysburg, Cedar Mountain and the surrender of Lee, 
were in the east, and there they will stand so long as his- 
tory shall perpetuate our civil conflict. The Army of the 
Potomac has nothing to fear from posterity. Its glory 
will be uneclipsed in the records of the war. 



6^ SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

The stranger who visits St. Paul's Cathedral, reads 
upon the tomb of the great architect the expressive in- 
scription, " If you seek my monument, look around." 
Si monameMtiim f/ueris circamspive. These imperishable 
words might well be written upon our work-shops and 
court-houses, upon our churches and halls of legislation 
in commemoration of the men who perished in their 
defense. 

" At Marathon for Greece the Athenians ibught," sang 
the poet Simonides. With equal truth may it be said, 
that our soldiers fought for the republic and civilization. 
The statue which we now dedicate with these solemn and 
appropriate ceremonies, is a fitting and touching tribute 
from kindred and friends to the brave men who went from 
your iields and firesides to die for their country; but 
would we behold their grandest and most enduring mon- 
uments, we must look upon the tields and industries which 
the}'- have helped to open to the free labor of all races ; 
must forecast the comforts of an educated people devoted 
to the arts of beauty and of profit, and the revenues of a 
commerce which lays the markets of the world under 
contribution. 

We must contemplate the widening area of the repub- 
lic dotted with schools and happy homes and thronged 
by a free, intelligent population, whose national life 
illustrates the justice of their laws and the purity of 
their faith. 

These are the monuments which their own hands 
have builded, and they will stand when this which our 
gratitude has reared shall have crumbled into the dust 
of ages. 

" Ah, never shall the land forget 

How gushed the life-blood of her biMve — 
Gushed warm with liope and courage yet, 

Upon the soil they fought to save ! " 



i 



SPEECH OF COLONEL TAPFAN. 39 

The Presidknt. — Down on the line of tlie Sugar River Railroad — which you 
know is soon to be put in operation — in Bradford, lives a gentleman who has 
ably served the State in the Congress of the United States, and also in the 

field as commander of the First Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers 

Col. Mason W. Tappan. 

SPEECH OF COL. MASON ^y. TAPPAN. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I do not at 
tliis late hour propose to detain you with any extended 
remarks, but I greatly rejoice that it was in my j^ower to 
be present on tliis interesting occasion, and to join with 
the vast throng I see. before me in rendering a tribute of 
grateful respect to the memory of the patriot-dead of old 
Claremont. It gives me pleasure to see here so many in 
the old familiar uniforms — the " Boys in Blue ; " and I 
am especially glad to see, by the badges that meet mv eye, 
so many of my brethren of the Grand Army of the Eepiib- 
lic, giving an earnest that should treason and rebellion 
ever again rear their hydra heads, New Hampshire, at 
least, will not be quite so unprepared to meet them as 
she was when the last rebellion broke out. 

We have assembled here to do honor to the soldiers, 
both living and dead; and in the few words I shall speak, 
I cannot help recurring to the cause for which they so 
nobly fought and died. It was not alone a war for the 
preservation of the Union, or for the integrity of the 
Government — important as both those objects were. It 
was the old struggle over again between the antagonizing 
forces of liberty and despotism. It was a conflict based 
on the great idea for which our fathers fought in the Rev- 
olution, that all men, of whatever color or race, were cre- 
ated equal and entitled to the enjoyment of life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. In other words, it was a 
conflict for the rights of human nature. And when, after 
the long and dreary night that had settled down around 
our armies at the outset of the struggle — with scarcely a 
star of victory to illumine the gloom — at last, the immor- 



40 SOLDIERS MONUMENT. 

tal Proclamation was announced that the clank of a fetter 
should never again be heard in all this broad land — how 
grandly, how nobly, how cheerfully, did our gallant lead- 
ers and our patriot armies accept and vindicate the great 
and sublime issue. And how soon thereafter did the 
gloom disperse, and the darkness fade away. And as the 
echo of the last gun died away at Appomattox — when the 
last rebel had laid down his arms— when the glorious old 
Stars and Stripes — torn, insulted, trampled upon by rebel 
hordes once more floated in triumph in every State of the 
X'nion — I thank my God, that the people of this great 
country could not only rejoice in a Union, one and indi- 
visible — in a Government securely fixed on God's eternal 
granite of truth, justice and liberty, but that they could 
rejoice also in a nation redeemed, regenerated and disen- 
thralled by the genius of universal emancipation! 

It is fitting, then, that you have assembled here almost 
in countless numbers, men, women, and children, — on this 
anniversary of Sheridan's most glorious victory, to dedi- 
cate this l)eautiful statue, so creditable to the artist, and 
to the patriotism and public spirit of the people of this 
o-rand old town. It is fitting that we raise monuments 
of granite, of marble, and of brass to commemorate the 
heroic deeds of those who laid down their lives, that — in 
the lan2"uao:e of the lamented Lincoln — " the Government 
of the people, by the people, and for the people might 
not perish from the earth." It is fitting that we make 
annual pilgrimages to the hallowed spots where rest the 
remains of our citizen soldiers. 

" And Oh ! where can dust to dust be consigned so well. 

As where Heaven its dews shall shed, 

On the martyred patriot's bed, 

And the rocks shall raise their heads of his deeds to tell.'' 

It is fitting that we go forth annually to strew with 
flowers the graves of the noble, and glorious, and patri- 



SPEECH OF HON. JACOB H EL A. 41 

otic dead, that their names and memory may be kept 
forever green and fragrant, and their priceless achieve- 
ments handed down to the generations and the ao-es 
that are to come after us ! 

The President. — Ladies and Gentlemen — I feel very much as though I 
was in command of a powerful battery — constantly letting olf big guns ! 
(Laughter and cheers.) But I have a big gun in reserve, a gentleman who 
now represents the First New Hampshire District in Congress — Hon. Jacob 
H. Ela. 

SPEECH OF HON. JACOB H. ELA. 

It is not without reluctance that I venture to address 
you in the presence of so many who have earned by their 
deeds a better right to occupy your time and attention. 

I have always felt that it was not only proper but a 
duty, for each community, in some appropriate man- 
ner, to commemorate the individual actions in the great 
struggle which secured to us nationality, with individual 
freedom and protection to all beneath the national flag, 
and the right of the majority to rule through the forms 
presented by the constitution. 

It was no ordinary struggle in which these men en- 
gaged, whether we consider their numbers, the tierce 
stubbornness of the conflict, or the wide-spread influence 
which it exerted. It was among other things a struggle 
to maintain the right of a constitutional majority to gov- 
ern in this nation — to determine whether the voice of the 
people, constitutionally expressed by a free ballot, was to 
be respected and obeyed, or whether a minority should 
revolutionize and destroy the government when they could 
no longer rule it. It was a rebellion in the interest of 
slavery and despotism, for no sooner had secession raised 
its hydra head than it was announced by the Yice-Presi- 
dent of the Confederacy, that slavery was to be the corner 
stone of the governmental structure to come out of it, and 
the despots of the old world hastened to give it belligerent 
aid, fllled with joy at the seeming prospect of our destruc- 



42 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

tioii, and feeling' their tottering tlirones already more 
secure. The perjured usurper, who by force and fraud 
stood over the prostrate form of liberty in France, at 
once commenced to found a despotism upon our border, 
upheld by French bayonets, which was announced to be 
the pioneer movement to bind up the broken fragments 
of the Latin Races into dynasties for the offshoots of 
European Royalty, 

It was the stunning death-blow which our citizen sol- 
diers planted in the brazen front of rebellion and slavery 
here, which settled the fate of these prospective Empires 
on this continent, and sent back the soldiers of France in 
mortification and disgrace to their humiliated and weak- 
ened master, which gave over the Austrian adventurer to 
his fate, and made the minions of slavery and despotism 
howl with rage and impotent fury. It was this triumph 
over rebellion and slavery which kindled the hopes and 
longing aspirations of Cuba for liberty into efforts to lift 
the CTcm of the Antilles from the thraldom of Spain into 
the enjoyment of Republican liberty regulated by law — 
which started the English colonies on the road to inde- 
pendence and annexation. For with independence and 
freedom for all the people comes one government for 
this continent. Sooner or later it will come, like the 
ripened fruit by its own gravitation, if it does not find an 
earlier harvest. 

The influence of our success did not stop on this side 
of the water. It kindled anew the dying efforts and aspi- 
rations of patriots in continental Europe for Republican 
liberty, and has borne its fruit in revolutions or liberal 
concession to their demands. Spain has cut off" and cast 
out the gross incubus of Royalty, with which she was en- 
cumbered and is struggling* for the birth of Republican 
liberty. England disestablishes her chui;ch in Ii-eland, and 
Austria liberalizes her Hungarian legislation, while Na- 
poleon, unwillingly and reluctantly surrenders the pre- 



SPEECH OF HON. JACOB H. EL A. 43 

rogatives of Empire to quiet the French people, who 
by the ballot are recovering a part of what was lost in the 
usurpation — recovering it from the reluctant hand which 
held the bayonet over prostrate Mexico and uprising 
Italy. 

What more proper and appropriate then than honors 
paid to the memory of those who dared and died in such 
a contest. Let them be given, and let their deeds and 
names be commemorated in the granite shaft and the 
marble column, and in all the other ways which a gener- 
ous and a grateful people may suggest, while a nation 
saved is the great monument to their united deeds. And 
by the memory of the unnumbered whose lives were 
given as a sacrifice for our nationality, let us all labor to 
extend and perpetuate the ideas of free government and 
the principles of liberty for all for which they fought so 
well and died so nobly. And among the highest honors 
we can bestow is to forget not the duties we owe to the 
living friends they left behind. It is by thus honoring 
them, we honor ourselves, and make it certain, that if in 
the coming generation dangers shall beset our country, 
there will not be wanting among our people willing hearts 
and strong hands to uphold and protect it. 

The President. — I was in hopes to have had the pleasui-e of introducing to 
you Gen. John Bedel, of Bath, but as he has failed to put in an appearance, 
we will now close the exercises at the stand by joining, altogether, in that 
grand old ascription, 

" Be thou, God, exalted high," — 

after which the Marshal will re-form the procession. 

The procession marched to the Tremont House, where the invited guests, 
the committee of arrangements, oiBcers of the day, and citizens, in all about 
eight}', ladies and gentlemen, at four o'clock, s:it down to a sumptuous dinner. 

Members of fire companies and posts of the Grand Army were liberally pro- 
vided for by contributions of citizens, at the Town Hall, where tables were laid 
for about five hundreil After these hail eaten, the doors were thrown open to 
ihe multitude. Not less than one thousand persons were fed in this way. 
There was a great quantity of food left, which was distributed to such as 
needed it. 



44 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

THE MONUMENT. 

Tlic luonuineut consists of a handsome j^ranite pedestal, seven feet high, 
surmounted by a bronze statue of an infantry volunteer soldier, in full reg- 
ulation uniform, leaning in an easy and graceful way upon his gun. Beneath 
the statue, on the granite die, is the following inscription : 

ERECTED 

IN HONOR OF THE SOLDIERS 

OF 

CLAREMONT 

WHO DIED 

IN THE REBELLION OF 

1861-5 

BY THEIR GRATEFUL 
FELLOW CITIZENS. 

1869. 



FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 

RECEIPTS. 

E L. Goddard, for Fourth of July committee of 1865, principal, 

• 47.00; interest, 13.00, $60.00 

Mrs. E. L. Goddard, Treasurer Auxiliary Sanitary Commission, 

principal, 150.00; interest, 41.25, 191.25 

From subscriptions of 1867, principal, 642.72; interest, 95.37, 738.09 

Dramatic company, 94.00 

Subscriptions of 1869, 970.63 

Town appropriations for Monument and Park Improvement, as per 

vote of 1867-8, 3500.00 

$5553.97 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Martin Milmore, for Monument 4000.00 

E. Batchelder, for granite curbing, 250.00 

Concrete walks and grading, 807 .23 

Fence, 337.14 ; labor, 159.60, 496.74 

$5553.97 

51^ The items of subscriptions and disbursements may be found upon the 
Town records. 



MEMORIAL TABLETS. 45 



MEMORIAL TABLETS. 

The large number of those Claremout men who were 
killed in battle and died of wounds or disease while in 
the service, rendered the inscription of their names upon 
the Monument impracticable ; therefore, marble tablets 
were erected in the Town Hall, bearing the following 
Roll of Honor — except that the date and manner of the 
death of each is added here, to perpetuate more fully 
their record : 

Citizen Soldiers of Claremont who died for their 
Country in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-5. 

COLONEL ALEXANDER GARDINER. 

Mortally ■vroundocl at tlie liattle of Opequau Creek, near Wiucliester, Va., September 19, 
1864. Died of wouuds, October S, 1S0+. 

CAPTAIN WILLIAM HENRY CHAFFIN. 

Killed at the battle of Opequan Creek, near \yinchester, Va., September 19, 186-t. 

LIEUTENANT RUEL G. AUSTIN. 

Wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. Died of wounds at Baltimore, 
Md., July 26, 1863. 

LIEUTENANT CHARLES 0. BALLOU. 

Killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 186-2. 

LIEUTENANT ROBERT HENRY CHASE, 

Killed at the battle uf Ream's Station, Va., August 2.5, 1864. 

LIEUTENANT SAMUEL BROWN LITTLE. 

Wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. Died of wounds at 
Falmouth, Va., December 24, 1862. 

LIEUTENANT GEORGE NETTLETON. 

Wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. Died of wounds 
December 23, 1862. 

LIEUTENANT HENRY S. PAULL. 

Killed at the battle of Opequan Creek, near Winchester, Va., September 19, 1864. 

LIEUTENANT WILLIAM DANFORD RICE. 

Supposed killed at Poplar Grove Church, Va., September 30, 1864. 

DANIEL S. ALEXANDER.* 
Killed at the battle of Drury's Bluff, Va., May 13, 1864. 

OSCAR C. ALLEN. 

Died of disease at Philadelphia, October 2, 1862. 

* Erroneously cut on tablet, Daniel S. Dickinson. 



46 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

JAMES P BASCOM. 

Dicil of disease at Falmoiitli, Va., Deoembor 25, 1S62. 

SAMUEL 0. BENTON. 

Killed at the battle of Ream's Station, Va., August 16, 1804. 

HORACE BOLIO. 

Killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July -J., 1863. 

AMOS F. BRADFORD. 
Died of Diphtheria, at Paris; Ky., November 10, IS&i. 

JOSIAH S. BROWN. 

Killed at the battle of Frederieksbuig, Va., December 13, 1S62. 

.JAMES BURNS. 

Killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., .July 3, 1S()3. 

CHARLES F. BURRILL. 

Killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July ■>, 1S63. 

CHARLES E. BALLOU. 

Died at Washington, D. C, of disease, February IS, 1K64. 

LUTHER A. CHASE. * 

Killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1802. 

WYMAN R. CLEMENT. 

Died of disease, at Washington, D. C, August 1, 1861. 

JOSEPH CRAIG. 

Killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863. 

ALBERT G. DANE. 

Died while prisoner, at Salisbury, N. C, February 3, 1S6.5. 

ZIBA L. DAVIS. 

Died of disease at Falmouth, Va., January 12, 1863. 

JAMES DELMAGE. 

Killed at the battle of Fair Oaks, Va., June 1, 1862. 

EDWARD E. FRENCFL 

Wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June l'.i, 1864. Died of wounds, September 
7, 1864. 

JOHN GILBERT. 

Killed at the battle of Deep Run, Va., .\ug. 16, 1864. 

FREDERICK W. GODDARD. 

Dieil of disease, at Pembertoii Square Hospital, Boston, July 3, 1863. 

CHARLES B. GRANDY. 

Died of dis<>ase, at Washington, D. C, October, 1861. 

DAVID H. GRANNIS. 

Died of disease at Milton Head, N. C, March 4, 1863. 

CHESTER F. GRINNELS. 

Killed at the battle of Fiedericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. 

CHARLES A. HART. 

Kille.l at the battle of Fredericksbuig, Va., December 13, 1862. 

ELISHA M. HILL. 

Died of wounds received in battle, October 27, 1862. 



MEMORIAL TABLETS. 47 

DAMON E. HUNTER. 

Mortally wouikIpcI at tbe battle of Fair Oaks, Va., Juue 1, 1862. Died June 22, 1862. 

WILLIAM L. HURD. 

Killed at the battle ot Lee's Mills, Va., April 16, 1862. 

JOHN S. M. IDE. 

Killed in an eiigagenieut at Yorktowii, Va., April .5, 1862. 

JOSEPH W. KELLEY. 

Died of disease on passage from Fortres-s Monroe to Washington, in May, 1862. 

WALTER B. KENDALL. 

Killed in front of Petersburg, A'o., June 16, 1864. 

J. FISHER LAWRENCE. 

Died of disease at Port Royal. S. C, August 8, 1862. 

CHARLES B. MARVIN. 

Killed at the battle of Antietam, September IT, 1862. 

NOAH D. MERRILL. 

Died of wounds received in battle, September 16, 1862. 

EDWARD F. MOORE. 

Killed in the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863. 

HORATIO C. MOORE. 

Moi-tally wounded in the battle of James Island, S. C, June 16, 1862. Died June 19, 1S62. 

RANSOM M. NEAL. 

Died of disease at Hilton Head, S. C, October 30, 1862. 

EVERETT W. NELSON. 

Wounded and taken prisoner at Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863. Died July 24, 1S63. 

CRARLES H. NEVERS. 

Killed in battle at White Oak Swamp, Va., June 30, 1862. 

FREDERICK A. NICHOLS. 

Mortally wounded near Bermuda Hundred, June 16, 1864. Died ne.xt day. 

LYMAN F. PARRISH. 

Died of disease at Manchester, N. II., February 20, 1863. 

WILLIAM E. PARRISH. 

Wounded and taken prisoner in the battle of tlie Wilderness, and is supposed to have 
died at Andersonville. 

JOEL AV. PATRICK. 

Died of disease, at Claremout, August 15, 1862. 

JOSEPH PENO. 

Killed at the battle of James Island, S. C, June 16, 1862. 

CHARLE-; E. PUTNAM. 

Killed at the battle of \Villiamsburg, A'a., May 5, 1862. 

GEORGE H. PUTNAM. 

Killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 186J. 

GEORGE READ. 

Died of disease, at Newark, N. J., September 9, 1862. 

HENRY W. PATRICK. 

Died of disease, at Claremout, August 20, 1868. 



48 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. \ 

EDGAR T. REED. 

Shot while attempting to an-i'st ii dcsciter, in the autumn of 1864. 

WILLIS REDFIELD. 

Died of yellow fever, at Newbern, N. C, Octobei- 11, 1864. 

CHARLES D. ROBINSON. 

Killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862. 

GEORGE E. ROWELL. 

Pied of disease, at Baltimore, Md., April 10, 1864. 

GEORGE W. RUSSELL. 

Mortally wounded at the battle of Antietam, Va., September 17, 1862, and died next day. 

ARD SCOTT. 

Taken prisoner at Darbytown, Va., October 1, 1864. Died of starvation and exposure, 

at Salisbury, N. C, November 20, 1864. 

CHARLES N. SCOTT. 

Killed at tlie battle of Fair Oaks, Va., June 1, 1862. 

EDWARD E. STORY. 

Died of disease, at llatteras Inlet, March 4, 1862. 

ANDREW J. STRAAV. 

Wounded at the battle of Dull Kuu, A'a., .July 21, 1861, and i.s supposed to have died in 
the hands of the enemv. 

ROLAND TAYLOR. 

Mortally wounded at the battle of IJettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1S62, and died a few days 
afterward. 

HORACE A. TYRRELL. 
Died of disease, on his way home, after discharge, December 30, 186,'). 

HARVEY M. WAKEFIELD. 

Died ot disease, July 5, 1862. 

GEORGE 0. WEBB. 

Died of disease, at Camp Fair Oaks, Va., June 15, 1S62. 

CHARLES W. WETHERBEE. 

Killed at the battle of Fiiir Oaks, Va., June 1, 1862. 

JOHN F. WHEHLER. 
Taken prisoner at the battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21, 1861. Exchanged, and died on 
.^hi|)board between Salisbury, N. C, and Now York. 

NORMAN F. WHITMORE. 

Died of disease occasioned by wounds, at Jacksonville, Fla., June 9, 1864. 

AUGUSTUS E. WOODBURY. 

Taken prisoner atOlustee, Fla., February 10, 1864, died at Andersonville, Ga., Juue '.J3,1S64. 

SAMUEL S. CARLETON. 
Died at Clarcinont, January 23, 1867, of wounds received in battle. 



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